So it's been quite a while since I've updated (or so I've heard from some informants). Finding a solid block of time to sit down on this virus infected labtop my company gave me and uploading photos through the hotels slow-ass internet connection is pretty tough, but considering my stomach is unsettled and I think I'll be hurling up a mix of jellyfix crab and some light local beer I'll stick with it and get some words down.
Lets begin with last Friday, the 7th. I managed to get a ticket to go down to Ningbo to visit Steve and Angie. Steve's a good buddy from 2362 E. Norris St, Philadelphia and he moved from our place to Ningbo for his job at Penn Reels, and met his wonderful girlfriend Angie who is Chinese. He invited me over, and since It was my birthday weekend I got my company to help me get a driver to the train station and a ticket. The only ticket I could get was a "soft sleeper" which is basically a bed. These trains have 12+ hour trips (since China is GIGANTIC) and so these types of cars are very common. Getting on the train and sitting down on the bed... my eyes started to burn from fatigue. The guy sitting next to me had a huge smile every time he looked at me and I gave him a big smile back. I kept dozing off here and there during the train ride, trying to understand where I was.
On one of my wake ups, the guy sitting next to me handed me a paper. It had his name, his age, what he does and all manner of information on it written in pretty good english. Below all this were questions of the same for me! His spoken english wasnt spectacular but we made due by filling his notebook with sentence after sentence. His name was (excuse me for the bad translation) Shau Fan. He was 26 and worked in the milk business. He was headed down to HungZhu to visit a friend who had hurt himself and was in the hospital. I really liked Shau Fan. His smile was endearing and his outlook so bon vivant. So much so that when he left the train at his stop I suddenly felt very alone again. He graced me by allowing me to photograph him before he left.
I arrived safe and sound in Ningbo, Steve was easy to pick out at the train station. Tall white guy who looks like he's forever stoned.
Steve and Angie whisked me away to "Angies", a bar Angie actually used to own. It was cute, laid back. I met a buddy of Steve's by the name of Andy (who if anyone can remind me when I get back to the states, I ought to look up and thank). One hell of a guy. Drives good Chinese too. At some point that night, I crashed on a bed if you wish to call it that. The matress was a piece of wood with the middle chopped out, and a netting of straw very rigidly attached along the sides. Woke up the next morning a bit... tough.
Steve, Angie and I started the day with some spicey noodles. Good wakeup call. Followin that, Angie went out to do some shopping and Steve and I went for a walk to a mountain side nearby. Near the mountainside was a little village we walked through for about an hour admiring different oddities. As we walked through this very heavily dirtied village with a lamentable water supply (no one, even locals, drink tap water), we found the most interesting things. First off, China is in economic boom and it's manufacturing industry has and is exploding. But a plastic injection molding spot right around the corner, tucket away in this small town village? I 
would have never of guessed. The other sight that blew me away was the "Orcish battle wagon" or so I like to call it. The thing is BAD-ASS and if I could I would ride that thing in STYLE to work in the morning. I'd leave an hour and a half earlier just so I could pimp out my ride. Xhibit ain't got shiat on this piece of mechanical almost-steampunk motivation.
A bit later on, Steve Angie and I met up at a local coffee house chain and enjoyed some refreshments. We ended up meeting up with Andy and two of Angie's friends and drove up to a mountain to barbeque and drink some good ol' local brewed "KK" Beer. Shit is like Chinese Colt 45. About 20 cents for a liter, and garaunteeeeeeeeeed to give you a hangover. The barbequeing was fantastic, and so begins the evening of me getting absolutely obliterated for my 24th. We first started at Angies Pub after the barbeque and I'm inhaling Lemon Drops couteousy: Andy. In between, this hilariously hairstyled Chinese kid (who can't be over 16 but we give shots to anyways) keeps trying to get me to teach him how to dance. Kid had way more skills than me. He tore it UP. After more shots and vodka tonics, and a pizza (oh sweet taste from home) we hit the pub row. I meet this German guy named Detlef who shows me how to make the "Lynchburg Lemonade". 3 shots of something... something and then Jack Daniels, followd up by 1 sprite (you know, to sweeten the deal). We go through about 4 or 5 pitchers of this stuff and the nite goes on. At some point, there's a little kid in the picture running about. Last but not least I do remember one thing before blacking out. The good old Chinese Birthday cake. Supposedly, it's customary to all pitch in for someone's b-day and get them a cake and instead of eating it to pound it in their face. Hence a PHENOMINAL food fight. My words cannot do justice, but I believe there are some wonderful pictures on Steve's flikr website. My camera died early that morning: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mixedbeansThe next day was spent trying to become human again. I got the BEST morning surprise present, which I won't get into but let it be known that the parties involved in obtaining that are thanked from the bottom of my heart (and for a special someone by the lump in my pants... OKBAI). A bit later on, I hit the train back from Ningbo to Suzhou. I quickly say goodbye to Steve, Angie, and Andy. Taxi to Ningbo, 45 mins. The ticket Angie had bought me had as destination "Wuxi" which was a town after Suzhou. Normally, the ticket agents would take your card and redeem it to you when it was your stop. But not knowing Chinese, and especially without a working cellphone (the server kept giving me busy and the network was incorrect), trying to explain to the ticket clerk that I had to get off early and needed my ticket to give when exiting the train station was going to be tough. Angie wrote me a little letter to give to the clerk when I saw him. I'm not too sure what it said, but needless the say half the train got interested in my plight and before I knew it I was in the spotlight of laughter. There was a old man in front of me. Straight out of Kung-Fu movies. Rubbery tanned skin with gigantic veins pumping blood all over his aged body. Drawn in cheeks and wispery eyebrows and a set of fast moving eyes. A totally sweet white goatee. He drank tea from this jar full of leaves and insects and shit. He laughed with a full set of beat up teeth and pointed constantly at me (or perhaps... behind me?) while argueing with just about everyone around him. If I could speak Chinese, I would have loved to chat with this guy. Fuckin' Shaolin masta. Anyways, I figure where I am by counting the train stops and knowing roughly when my train ought to be in. 11:20 AM. Once we reach Suzhou after 5 and a half hours in a noisy ass train with a network incompetant cellphone and an old man HOUNDING Chicken feet, I breath a bit easier. Now, to get a taxi. With my wits, I pull out my Luggage Check for the hotel with the address on it in Chinese and hand it to this guy who's got a serious stray eye. He agrees. 50 RMB. Less than $10 and still a rip off. But considering what I've been through and my lack of sleep and lingering hangover, I'm just happy to lay back and ride. Make it to the hotel, crash. 12:45AM. The train ride was such an experience that I had to shoot the train's medalion.
It's 12:04 and I'm beat. More to come soon, including my stomach's plight tonight, my adventure to find a working condition pooper with teepee to match; and whether I hurled or not! Stay tuned for more of... bFRENCHHOUND adventures in CHINA...China....China....China (echo)
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